Woods Earns NCAA Qualifier at Mideast Regional Meet

Saturday, May 27

Knoxville, Tenn.

Michigan

NCAA Mideast Regional (Day 2)

5/27/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Track & Field

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Sophomore Mike Woods (Ottawa, Ontario/Hillcrest HS) punched his ticket to the NCAA Outdoor Championships with a top-five finish in the 1,500-meter run, pacing the University of Michigan men's track and field team Saturday (May 27) on the second and final day of the NCAA Mideast Regional. Drawing on the performances on five individual scorers, the Wolverines earned a 23rd-place team finish (12.5 points) against the regional field.

Woods earned a repeat trip to the national meet by matching his 1,500-meter performance from a year ago, registering a fourth-place finish and a time of 3:45.95. Woods and freshman teammate Lex Williams (Ann Arbor, Mich./Dexter HS) were both immediately pushed to the back as the 12-man field jockeyed for position in the opening 20 meters. As the group jogged through the first 400 meters at 65 seconds, both Wolverine runners moved up through the tight pack where Woods settled among the leaders and Williams used the outside lane to stay within fighting distance of the front through the second lap.

Indiana's John Jefferson took over the pace just past the halfway point, sprinting to the lead to string out the frontrunners, but Woods responded in kind to remain in second place around the curb. The Wolverine sophomore pushed to the front at the bell and held the lead until the final bend when he was caught by a pair of competitors before the final straightaway. He lost one more position in the final 10 meters but held off subsequent challengers to gain a coveted spot among the top five. Williams finished the race 11th overall, registering a time of 3:57.23.

Junior Michael Whitehead (East Norristown, Pa./Norristown Area HS) was also passed by a pair of competitors in the waning moments of the triple jump to fall back into seventh place and just miss the automatic-qualifying cut. Whitehead had hung onto the fifth spot through the two preliminary flights and remained among the leaders until he was just narrowly nipped by the two jumpers immediately preceding him in the round of third and final attempts. The Wolverine improved his own mark with a distance of 51-0 on his last jump but could not regain his standing among the top five. Whitehead, however, stands a good chance of earning an at-large selection to the NCAA Championships after entering the weekend with the 18th-best mark in the nation. He will need to wait until Tuesday evening (May 30), when the NCAA will release the final list of qualifiers, to learn his fate.

Placing seventh in the 800-meter run, fifth-year senior Rondell Ruff (Detroit, Mich./Henry Ford HS) also has an outside opportunity to earn an at-large bid to the national meet but more likley wrapped up his collegiate career with a personal-best performance in the half-mile event final. Starting in the inside lane, Ruff found himself at the rear of the nine-man field when the pack converged after 100 meters but fought for a couple positions through the opening lap to hold the seventh spot at the bell. Through the final lap, the pack stretched out around the first turn but bunched back together through the second and proved too congested for the Wolverine to make a strong finishing move down the stretch. With second through fifth place finishing within a narrow 0.12-second window, Ruff crossed the line just a step behind at 1:49.35, trimming 0.08 seconds from his previous best, which he recorded two weeks ago at the Big Ten meet.

Junior Stann Waithe (Towson, Md./Loch Raven HS) took eighth place in the 400-meter dash, posting a time of 47.13 out of lane eight. The field quickly made up the stagger on the Wolverine runner, who came out of the turn in the eighth spot and could not gain ground down the stretch. The Wolverine added a point the U-M team total, registering his second regional-scoring performance in as many years.

Senior Brad Miller (Lake Orion, Mich./Lake Orion HS) fell just a position shy of qualifying for the national meet in high jump as the U-M captain closed out his collegiate career with a share of the sixth spot and a mark of 6-9. Miller cleared the opening height on his first attempt, one of only a handful of competitors to accomplish the feat, but despite a few good looks at 6-11 could not get over the second bar, which would have matched his personal best in the event. Only five competitors did clear the second height to make up the region's NCAA qualifying contigent, while Miller shared the subsequent position -- a three-spot improvement on his ninth-place finish at last season's NCAA regional meet -- with Tennessee's James Jones.

In the Wolverines' other field event action, freshman Sean Pruitt (Cato, Wis./Valders HS) and senior/junior Paul Sarantos (Portage, Mich./Northern HS) took the 14th and 21st positions, respectively, as each Wolverine made his NCAA regional meet debut among the 27-man shot put field. Pruitt improved his mark with each throw in the opening flight and led the competition early with his mark of 54-4 1/2, but the U-M rookie lost his spot among the top-nine -- the number to qualify for the event final -- early in the third flight. Sarantos, who also threw during the first section, posted a distance of 52-6 1/2 on his final attempt.

Senior/junior Andrew Bauer (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./Lahser HS) wrapped up the Wolverines' second-day competition, taking eighth place in his section of the 3,000-meter steeplechase, the final individual race of the regional slate. Bauer worked his way from the back of the 13-man field to settle among the front half for a majority of the race, sitting as high as fourth at the midway point. The Wolverine started to fade in the final two laps and fell back into eighth across the finish line, clocking a time of 9:13.72. Combining with the larger second section, Bauer ended up claiming 20th overall.

The Wolverines will have two weeks to prepare for the NCAA Outdoor Championships, scheduled for June 7-10 in Sacramento, Calif. Hosted by Sacramento State at Hornet Stadium, the multi-events will kick off the national meet at 10 a.m. PDT next Wednesday morning.

Final Team Standings (Top 10)

 1. Louisiana State 71 2. Tennessee 52.25 3. Arkansas 41 4. Louisville 38 5. Missouri 36 6. Indiana 34 7. Kentucky 32 8. Middle Tenn. State 35 9. Akron 28.5 10. Southeastern La. 25 ------------------------------- 23. MICHIGAN 12.5

Event Winners/U-M Finishes (Day 2)

400-Meter Dash 1. Xavier Carter, LSU 44.84* 8. Stann Waithe, U-M 47.13 800-Meter Run 1. Thomas Chamney, Notre Dame 1:48.86* 7. Rondell Ruff, U-M 1:49.35 1,500-Meter Run 1. Vincent Rono, South Alabama 3:44.59* 4. Michael Woods, U-M 3:45.95* 11. Lex Williams, U-M 3:57.23 3,000-Meter Steeplechase 1. Brian Olinger, Ohio State 8:45.18* 20. Andrew Bauer, U-M 9:13.72 High Jump 1. Tomasz Smialek, Akron 7-2 1/4* (2.19m) t6. Brad Miller, U-M 6-9 (2.06m) Triple Jump 1. Alonzo Moore, Wisconsin 52-1 3/4* (15.89m) 7. Michael Whitehead, U-M 51-0 (15.54m) Shot Put 1. Andy Fryman, Kentucky 61-10 1/4* (18.88m) 14. Sean Pruitt, U-M 54-4 1/2 (16.57m) 21. Paul Sarantos, U-M 52-6 1/2 (16.01m) * Qualified for NCAA Championships